Search This Blog

Subscribe to this blog

Follow Finely Chopped by Email

Of coloured clothes and no homework... Sandwich & Co., Bandra

I am in a bit of a dilemma about this post. I quite like the place that I want to write about. It’s unique. I would like to tell you about it. But it has only four tables! At least one of which, I am told, is permanently occupied by a regular. What are my chances with the other three if word gets out about the place? But then how often will I go to have a 250 Re (5 USD) sandwich? So here you are, welcome to Sandwich & Co.

I was quite intrigued when I heard about the concept of Sandwich & Co. Of course you get sandwiches. You can apparently choose your meats and cheeses and ask them to make sandwiches for you too! That sounded right up my street. The sort of experience where you don’t want to be pinched and woken up at the end.

I finally landed up there after hearing so much about it. Sandwich & Co. is in the alley which falls on your right as you head to Jogger’s Park at Bandra, Mumbai. Shirley Rajan Road.

It is a small shop with four tables in the courtyard outside. It was a pleasant, wet evening. The weather was cool and you were surrounded by lofty trees which hid the concrete behind them. Fairly idyllic. As warned, two of the tables were occupied by the regulars.

A couple of Bengali mashimas who came and sat down beside us after. They happily dug into their coffees, (‘please remove the sugar from the cold coffee’) and sandwiches. Lethargic attempts to claim the bill ("coffee at Barrista is 67 Rs, hmm). Lacked the drama of our last encounter with mashimas in a coffee shop. They had a tiny little girl with them. The little one was sipping into a glass of cold coffee with glee. Not intimidated by the fact that the glass was taller than her.

The way it works in Sandwich & Co is that you go into the shop and take a look at the array of cheeses and meats from all over the world. Once you regain your consciousness you choose what you want. You then place your order with the friendly man who comes out from behind the counter to listen to your fancies. You can specify your choice of meat, cheese, dressing and veggies/ filling (yeah right!). They have their own sandwich combinations to choose from too. Lesser mortals would do that.

We went and sat outside. Taking in the dusk. The shadows which grew longer. The greenery which seemed fresher in the wet weather. The lamps grew brighter as night crept in. Our order arrived just as our fingers begun to tap in eager anticipation. (All of this took less than five minutes. Just that we got impatient).

Baguette, lightly toasted. Oak smoked bacon. Sensuous meat. Slightly salty and smoked. This was no ordinary bacon. It smacked of passion which made you roll your eyes in pure delight. Almost made you tremble in joy. Just as you thought that things couldn’t get better, you had your first taste of slightly melted herbed Gouda followed by an electrifying dash of Pesto. The combination woke up your senses and made you smile till the end of the road.

I was mighty proud of our combo of baguette, oak smoked bacon, herbed Gouda and Pesto. A moment of divine inspiration. Was it perfect? Well, ideally I would have liked more solid bites of the Gouda than what the heated, softened cheese offered. But hey, even the guy upstairs occasionally gets it wrong.

I chose a cold coffee to go with the sandwich. I have rarely been impressed by cold coffees at coffee shops. Yet I keep trying. Hoping to find the ‘right one’ someday. One sip of the cold coffee here and I knew that the moment I was waiting for all my life had come. This was the best cold coffee ever.

It was not too sweet. It wasn’t too light. Nor too thick. Gave you an amazing caffeine rush after each chilled sip. It refreshed, rejuvenated and kicked butt. And when it was over you had thick chocolate flakes to spoon out and lust on. I had almost given up on cold coffees when I had the cold coffee at this sandwich shop. Now if only coffee shops could learn from them.

The desserts didn’t look too appetising. The enticingly named ‘Lindt Cupcake’ was dry and didn’t taste good. Even to cupcake lovers which I am not. All you got with it was a lesson in life to trust what you see with your own eyes rather than to go by a brand name.

For the so inclined, Sandwich Company has free wi fi. My last attempts to use wi fi on my lappie in a coffee shop didn’t work. And, in case you know what a ipod dock is then they have one too. Technology is not my thing.

Sandwich Company is a shop which is not the usual faceless enterprise where you feel lost in the crowd. If little nooks are your thing, if you like oddities, if you like to create your own experience, to live a little, if you are tired of being packed in, fitting in, of confirming, of wearing a mask, if you miss wearing 'coloured clothes' on your birthday and class picnics, if you yearn for days without homework ... then you could consider dropping in at Sandwich & Co.

Update: 25/8

We went back this morning. This time had bagel with bacon and cream cheese and croissant with ham and red hot Ementhal. The long haired guy at the counter was quite proactive and new his stuff. He suggested pairings to us which really worked well. K had a good laugh when he scoffed at my suggestion of pesto. He felt pesto wouldn't go well with meat and that they use it only for vegetarian sandwiches. 'Knife Dulled' she called it. Well, as long as it improves the experience why not? the sandwiches were really good.

The cappuccinos at 80 Rs each really sucked and we both left them unfinished.

Sounds like a helluva nice place ! Bombay seems to have these little gems, and you seem to find them all right ! These kind of non-chain, (possibly family owned) yet professional eateries remind me of New York ?

Have only been in Mumbai proper once - that too was there to attend my sister's wedding reception and only went to touristy places like Gateway of India etc. Had planned to make it to the Blogger's meet, but chances not looking very bright not for this year at least !

hubby and i are both fond of chilli cheese toast and one sunday afternoon were scrounging for a place that would make us those. we ambled down here. they, unfortunately, didn't have it but the owner offered to have it delivered from Executive Enclave(? i forget the name - the small hotel just before yellow tree). He also runs that hotel. He called up immediately and we were delivered hot, scrumptuous toasts just as we finished making some tea. awesome. charged a bomb of course. but will never forget that.

@V: Well some of us do like to compare Mumbai with NYC. Your trip to Mumbai remembered me of my trip to KL. Did the tourist rap the first time. And then lived with locals and fell in love with the city

@Pinku: Come, I don't mind going again:)

@Mumbai Diva: I don't know that the two were related. The cheese chilly toast at tea centre is lovely

Contact Form

Translate

Search This Blog

Popular Posts

The start of a new chapter and of a more focused and conscious diet
If you have followed my social media feed, no pun intended, for the past few weeks, then you would have noticed my use of the hashtag #LittleJackHornerMeals.
I have referred to it earlier too here. As you might know, this is a hashtag that I have created to go with the sort of food that I try to eat these days. My diet has seen a bit of an overhaul of late. This happened after I did my routine medical check ups recently after a (very, very) long interval and the results of which made my doctors tell me that I need to work on countering some of the scores that have become high, through a mix of medication, exercise and change in dietary habits. I was also advised to try to lose weight to help rein these in as well as to help counter the chronic backache that I suffer from.
I am not going to get into the details of what I have been advised to do and why. There's a reason for that. The diet one needs to follow is…